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R. THOMAS & E. PREVOST. PROCESS OF MBRGERIZIN-G UNDER TENSION.

No. 600,827, Patented Mar. 15, 1898.

RICHARD THOMAS AND EMANUEL PREVOST, OF CREFELD, GERMANY.

PROCESS OF MERCERIZING UNDER TENSION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,827, dated March 15, 1898 Application filed January 22,1897. Serial No. 6202M. (N0 specimens.) Patentedin GermanyMarch 23, 1895,1To. 85,564; in France March 30, 1895, No. 246,244,- in AustriaA il. 6,1895, N0. 45/3,797, and January 8, 1896,110. 4=6/2,260; in Belgium February 6, 1896,1To. 119,665, and June 6, 1896, No. 121,771 in Italy May 19, 1896, No. 41,523/308, and in England September 18, 18961 No. 20,716.

85,564; in Austria April 6, 1895, No. T. 4.5,

F. 3,797, and January 8, 1896, No. T. 46, F.

2,260; in France March 30, 1895, No. 246,244;

in Italy May 19, 1896, No. 41,523/308; in

Belgium February 6, 1896, No. 119,665, and

June 6, 1896, No. 121,771, and in England September 18, 1896, No. 20,716,) of which the following is a specification.

hen cotton or similar vegetable fibrous material-such as thread, string, cloth, or other fabricis treated with a strong solution of alkali, acid, chlorid of zinc, or equivalent material and the chemicals used are then washed away or rendered inoperative by neutralization the fibrous material attains considerably greater strength, a greater holding power for dyes, and a more glossy appearance. mercerizing after its inventor, John Meroer, has found but little application in the textile industry because the fibrous material is thereby shrunk to the extent of twenty'to twenty-five per cent. Short-fiber and loosespun cotton can during mercerizing be prevented from shrinking by clamping it in the stretching-machines usually found in dyeing and finishing works or, after it has shrunk, can be brought back to the original length by subsequent stretching; but in these operations the individual fibers of which the threads, yarn, cloth, or other fabric consist are not themselves extended, but slip on one another, and thus change only their relative positions but not their length and quality. Thus the glossy appearance which the loose mercerized cotton already possesses remains unchanged by such stretching.

WVe have attempted to also stretch longfiber and hard-spun cotton during mercerizing.

chines usually found in dyeing and finishing This known process, which is called For this purpose the stretching-ma works are wholly insufficient, and new extrapowerful machines had to be constructed. In this powerful stretching of long-fibered and hard-spun cotton occurred a new, surprising, and industrially-valuable resultnamely, that the threads, yarn, cloth, and other fabric take on a brilliant silk-like luster. This surprising result is explained thereby, that in this case there no longer occurs a relative slipping of the individual fibers in the thread, because the friction on one another of the long and tightly-twisted fibers is too great to allow such slipping, but that the individual fibers, in consequence of the power ful stretching of the goods, are themselves elongated. This development of a silkylus ter in cotton by stretching of the individual fibers we claim as our discovery.

The elongated condition of the fiber may be fiXGd'OI rendered permanent in any Way, as by maintaining the tension until complete removal of the mercerizing fiuid or by a previous stretching beyond the necessary amount, whereupon on subsequent washing in the loose condition the fibers have a certain amount of allowance for shrinking, this shrinking being wholly or partially compensated for by the previous excess of stretching. On the other hand, it is essential to the invention that the vegetable fibrous material-as thread, yarn, cloth, or other fabric-should be mercerized and powerfully stretched until the individual fibers thereof have the extent of elongation necessary for the production of the silky luster. The appearance of the silky luster is thus a sharply-defined indication of the point at which this invention comes into operation. If on stretching the mercerized cotton simply the glossy appearance remains which was possessed originally by the loose mercerized cotton, then only a relative slipping and not an elongation of the individual fibers has taken place. Such a process we do not claim as our invention. It, on the other hand, the stretched mercerized cotton shows no longer the mere glossy appearance of'the unstretched mercerized cotton, but the characteristic luster of silk, then a stretching of the individual fibers to the limit required for the development of a silky luster has taken place, and an instance of the present invention is presented.

The accompanying drawings show an apparatus for carrying out the invention claimed herein, Figure 1 being a side view, and Fig. 2 a top View, of such apparatus.

In a frame A is supported a shaft is, driven by pulleyeand carrying aworm f, fixed thereon, and a worm g, capable of sliding on said shaft, but caused to turn with it by a spline 7t. Two rods or arms a and b are journaled, respectively, in a fixed bracket a and a movable bracket b, sliding on bar Z, forming part of the frame. VVorm-wheelsf and g, carried by these arms a and b, engage withwormsf and g. A screw 01, working in the frame, engages with the bracket 1) and is operated by hand-wheel c. The mercerized yarn is wrapped over the two arms a and Z). The arm I) is, by means of hand-wheel c and screw 01, gradually removed from arm at until the yarn has received the elongation required for the production of the silky luster. During this stretching the arms a and b are slowly rotated by shaft and worms fg. After the mercerized yarn is sufficiently stretched it is sprinkled with Water from tube h in order to remove the mercerizing liquid.

The following modifications of the process are applicable in practice.

The vegetable fiber in form of skein or of web while in a stretched condition is subjected to the action of strong lye or acid, and after completion of the reaction, which can be determined by the parchmentized appearance, is washed out while maintaining the tension until the internal tension existing in the fiber disappears. If then the web or skein is taken from the tension device, it can be further handled Without fear of shrinkage.

Instead of employing a special tension device the fibers can also be subjected to the strong alkaline lye or acid while on caps,

spools, bobbins, or similar known devices,

wherein the thread is already under tension, but it is desirable to apply especially-constructed apparatus in order to enable the thorough penetration of the preparing liquid and washing-water and to enable more powerful stretching. If the fibers are stretched during mercerizing beyond their original dimensions, they can then be washed out with- I out being kept under tension, without shrinking so much as in mercerizing without tension. This modification is especially adapted for loosely-spun goods,which, after operation of the mercerizin g liquid and removal of the surplus thereof,can be stretched beyond their dimensions in the raw state and then can be washed out without tension.

A further feature of our improved process rests on the following observation: If vegetable fibrous material is treated with caustic lye at about 10 to 12 Baum, no mercerizing action takes place at ordinary temperatures, but such action is readily brought about by subjecting the said fibrous material, while wetted with the lye and under tension, to a temperature below zero centigrade. This observation enables, then, the use of dilute mercerizingliquid, provided that the fiber wetted with the liquid is subjected while under tension to a temperature of about zero centigrade or under. The fibers can either be first wetted with the lye and then cooled or treated at once with the cold lye. The tension can .be given to the fibers before the cooling is effected or before they are wetted, or it can be given after the shrinking of the wetted fibers in the cold. The fixation of the condition produced by the cold lye in the stretched fiber can be effected by maintaining the tension until the fiber is again warmed to the usual temperatureabout 15 centigrade-or until the lye is washed out, or, as above described, by stretching of the wetted fiber while cold beyond the original dimension and then warming or washing out in loose condition, whereupon the fibers again shrink somewhat.

The application of cold offers the following advantages: Half-silk goods (mixed cotton and silk) cannot be treated with concentrated lye, since the lye attacks the silk and destroys it; but by operating in the cold a dilute solution of 14 Baum suffices for mercerization, and such a lye does not attack silk. Furthermore, by the use of a dilute solution is attained a saving in chemicals, less corrosion and deterioration of the apparatus, and greater convenience in operation. When cotton is wetted with soda-lye of 1 1 Baum at the ordinary temperature, no mercerization, and thus no shrinkage, takes place. Consequently the cotton can be conveniently stretched on the washing-machine. On then exposing it to the lower temperature the mercerization takes place, and at the same time the shrinkage of the fibers is prevented by the machine. With very strongly-spun yarns or with very closely-woven cloth the washing out of the lye While the fibers are in a stretched condition is very hard to complete, since the lye which has penetrated into the fibers is strongly held in the stretched yarn or fabric, and the wash-water simply runs over the surface of the tightly-stretched fabric without diluting the lye contained therein. In order to remove this difficulty, we prefer to use dilute acid for washing out the lye instead of pure water, and in this manner the lye is rendered inoperative by chemical neutralization in the interior of the fabric, or in case strong acid has been used for mercerizing, then we prefer to use dilute alkali for neutralization thereof. Our invention therefore comprises as its leading feature the stretching of mercerized cotton fiber to an extent sufficient to produce a silky luster and as subordinate features the use of a cold dilute lye for mercerization, as specified, and the use of a neutralizing-wash for partially or wholly neutralizing the mercerizing liquid after the mer cerization has been effected.

In our copending application filed June 4, 1896, Serial No. 594,306, for improvements in process of mercerizing vegetable fibers we have covered a process for mercerizing fibrous materials consistingin subjecting the fibrous material to a stretching action and afterward. treating the stretched material with a suitable mercerizing fluid until they assume a parchment-like appearance. In said application the stretching is partially or wholly accomplished before treating with the mercerizing ary modifications, will be clear from the accompanying claims.

7e are aware that it is common 'to treat fibrous materials with certain mercerizing fluids and other mordants while such material is held in a more or less stretched condition to prevent wrinkling and to cause the uniform action of the fluid upon the material; but we are not aware that any one prior to our invention has discovered the important fact herein disclosednamely,that the fibrous material when subjected to a sufficient stretching action during the mercerizing process will be given a peculiar silk-like luster. It is impossible to define in positive terms the amount of stretching necessary to produce the peculiar action which we claim as our 40.

discovery; but it is sufficiently definite for a proper understanding by those skilled in the art to say that the material must be so stretched during the mercerizing process that the individual fibers will be elongated and the silk-like luster will be produced. The result is so remarkable that one skilled in the art can readily determine when the desired result has been accomplished.

Having thus described our invention, What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described process of treating vegetable fiber for giving it a silky luster and feel, which consists in subjecting the fibers" to the action of a mercerizing fluid, without tension, and then during the mercerizing action, that is after the fiber is wetted by the mercerizing fluid and before the removal or neutralization of the said fluid, subjecting the material to a stretching action suflicient to produce a silky luster and feel and prevent shrinkage, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. I j

2. The herein-described process of treating vegetable fiber for giving it a silky luster and feel, which consists in subjecting tightly-spun long-fibered vegetable fiber to the action of a suitable mercerizing fluid, without tension at the outset, and then subjecting said tightlyspun fiber to such a stretching action that a silky luster and feel are produced,said stretching action taking place after the fibers are wetted by the mercerizing fluid and before the removal or neutralization of the said fluid, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. 3. The herein-described process of treating vegetable fiber for giving it a silky luster and feel, which consists in subjecting it to the primary action of a mercerizing fluid, without tension, until it assumes a parchmentlike appearance, thensubjecting it to a sufficient stretching action to prevent its ultimate shrinkage while it is exposed to the further action of the mercerizing fluid, and finally neutralizing or removing the mercerizing fluid from the fiber while it is kept stretched,whereby the material will have a silky luster-and feel, substantially as set forth.

4. The herein-described process of treating vegetable fiber for giving it a silky luster and feel, which consists in subjecting it to the action of a mercerizing fluid, without tension, until it assumes a parchment-like appearance, incidentally allowing the usual shrinkage, then stretchin g it while exposed to the mercerizin g fluid until it is at least its original length, and finally neutralizing or washing the mercerizing fluid from the stretched material, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The improvement in the process of mer- 10o cerizing vegetable fibers woven or mixed with animal fiber, which consists in subjecting said mixed material, without tension at the outset, to the action of a mercerizing fluid at a low temperature, such as about zero'centigrade, and then subjecting said material to a stretching action while it is undergoing the mercerizing operation, the said fluid being of such a degree of dilution as to be without mercerizing effect upon the vegetable fibers no at ordinary temperature and without deleterious action upon the animal fibers, as set forth.

6. The herein-described process of treating vegetable fiber for giving ita silky luster and feel, which consists in subjecting the material to the action of a mercerizing fluid, without tension at the outset, then subjecting said materialto a stretching action, and continuing and increasing the stretching of the material while it is exposed to the action of the 12o mercerizing fluid until a silky luster is produced thereon, and finally neutralizing or washing it to remove the mercerizing fluid, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof we hereunto set our hands in presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD THOMAS. EMANUEL PREVOST.

Witnesses:

CHARLES JONAS, GEORGE GOMPERTZ. 

